Abstract DBI 9750003 Wes Burrows This action funds an NSF/Alfred P. Sloan Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Molecular Evolution for 1997. These fellowships support studies involving the theoretical, comparative, computational, and/or experimental analyses of biological patterns and processes at the molecular level within the framework of organismic evolutionary change and adaptation. These studies also include the use of molecular data to address broader evolutionary questions. Each fellowship supports a research and training plan to be carried out in a sponsoring laboratory. The research and training plan for this fellowship is entitled "DNA Sequence variation of the Y chromosome in Great Apes: molecular evolution and natural selection of the male specific chromosome." This research plan focuses on the Y chromosome of the primates most closely related to humans: chimpanzee, gorillas, and orangutans. The molecular evolution of the "male" chromosome has become important and controversial in population and phylogenetic analyses of primates. Sequencing and PCR amplification of variable repeats of DNA are being used to assess the variation of the Y chromosome between and within the great ape species. Evidence is being sought for natural selection on the Y chromosome in this group of animals.
